Plowing tool for paint removal



Sept. 19, 1933., w. F. BURDICK PLOWING TOOL FOR PAINT REMOVAL Filed Sept. 5, 1931 Patented Sept. 19, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

My invention relates to tools for removing paint or smoothing surfaces in preparation for painting, and is a tool that has cutting edges so arranged relative to the handle or other holding 5 means for the tool, that the same operate on the surface to be cleaned by a pushing action of the operator on the tool away from the operator. My invention more particularly comprises a tool that is adapted for removing paint or other surface accumulations from siding or similar wood surfaces, by a plowing action, said tool being so constructed thatthe same will be adapted to clean or smooth a flat surface and a surface adjoining the same extending substantially at 115; right angles thereto, such as the side face and the underneath surface of an adjoining piece of siding on the side of a house. In order to accomplish this purpose, a blade is provided on the tool that has cutting edges on all. sides thereof, and

this tool is so mounted that any one or several of the cutting edges can be put into play without interference by the handle or holding means for the blade when the tool is in use. Said blade is, preferably, of rectangular, character and has 2 twelve cutting edges. The blade is not beveled to' provide the cutting edges, but is made flat and has flat faces on all the four narrow edges or faces thereof, defining cutting edges at the corners or junctions between. the Various flat faces, all of which, preferably, extend at right angles to each other. The blade is made of a high grade tool steel so that the cutting edges or corners will remain sharp for a considerable period of time. e It is a further purpose of my invention to provide a device of the above mentioned character in which the blade is both invertible and reversible to provide four different long cutting edges that engage with the wide surface that is to be cleaned or smoothed, depending upon the position of the blade relative to the handle or holder therefor, said blade being reversible, top for bottom, and front for back, to put the different cutting edges into use. Four side corners, that is, four corners r formed at the junction of the narrow sidefaces and narrow end faces'of the'blade also serve to cut on a surface substantially at right angles to that portion of the blade that engages the relaively wide surface to be cleaned. This short cutting edge extending perpendicular to the main cutting edge, serves to smooth and remove paint or other surface accumulations from such surfaces asthe underneath edges of siding or similar offsets in surfaces to be cleaned. The side edges of the tool formed by the meeting fiat top and bottom faces and the narrow end faces also act as cutting surfaces engaging the surface at right angles to the main surface to be cleaned, and cooperate with the perpendicular short cutting edges previously referred to.

One of the particular advantages of my tool is that the same provides a very smooth surface because of its fiat wide character, and also is very rapid in operation, it being many times as efficient as the ordinary scrapers, such as are used for scraping surfaces by means of a blade that extends substantially at right angles or at an oblique angle to the handle, my blade extend ing in alignment with or substantially in alignment with the handle so as to project forwardly from the remainder of the tool, instead of at an oblique angle thereto or at a right angle thereto, as is the case with ordinary scraping tools on the market.

The forward edge of the tool is not tapered, as this would be undesirable, such a tapering or beveled forward edge would dull rapidly and would also gouge into the material that is being operated on if used with a pushing action. While razor blades have been used on a small pushing tool for removing paint from glass, the operation of my tool is entirely different, such tools being usable only on a hard surface, like glass, and not using any planing or plowing action as is the'case with my tool.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will appear as the description of the drawing proceeds. I desire to have it understood, however, that I do not intend to limit myself to the particular details of structure shown or described, except as defined in the claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a portion of the side wall of a building looking upwardly at the same, showing my tool applied thereto to clean or smooth off the outer surface of one of the pieces of siding or weather boards and simultaneously cleaning or smoothing off the underneath edge face of the next adjoining piece of siding above the one the face of which is being cleaned. I

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view of the tool in side elevation, and showing the edges of a pair of adjoining pieces of siding to indicate the manner in which the tool is used to clean the surface thereof, and

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Referring in detail to the drawing, my improved tool is shown as comprising. a handle 5,

which may be of any desired character and which is secured in any suitable manner on the blade holder 6, which is provided with a pair of diverging arms 7 thereon, the outer ends of which have pairs of jaws thereon, which extend f rwardly in parallelism to the handle and the corresponding jaws of which are made alike, said jaws being, of course, parallel to each other and each pair of jaws comprising an upper jaw 9 and a lower jaw 10 "connected adjacent the arms 7 by means of a connecting portion 8, the upper jaw 9 being somewhat longer than the jaw 10, and the lower jaw being beveled at 11 so as not to inter fe're with the operation of the blade when the tool is in use. The opposite inwardly directed faces of the jaws 9 and 10 are made flat and lie in parallel planes, the same being indicated by the numerals 12 and 1.3. The forward ends of the jaws 9 and 10 may be rounded, as shown at 14, if desired, and the rear wall 15 of the blade receiving socket or recess lormed between each pair of jaws, is, preferab-ly, flat, and extends at right angles to the faces 12 and 13. The jaws 9 are provided with threaded openings 16 that receive the set screws 17 having the winged heads 18 thereon, by means of which the blade 19 is clamped in position between the jaws 9 and 10. Said blade 19 is made considerably wider than the depth of the socket or recess portions of the blade holder betv the jaws so that the same projects 'a considerable distance beyond the rounded forward ends l i 'of the jaws, and also is made considerably wider than the distance between the outer side faces of the jaws to thus expose the forward edge and the side edges of the blade along their entire length, and places the handle and the blade holding portion of the tool in such a position that it will not in any way interfere with the cutting action of the side edges or forward edges of the blade, and will permit access to corners that would otherwise be diflicult to reach, readily cleaning even in a sharp corner.

The'blade is preferably made of a rectangular form and has the opposite fiat faces 20 and 21 of considerable area, the face 2 being shown as being the upper face as the blade is placed on the handle, but the blade being invertible to place the face 21 thereof upward. The blade is of uniform thickness and the faces 20 and 21 are plane and parallel. The narrow side faces 22 and 23 of the blade are also flat and extend at right angles to the faces 20 and 21, thus providing sharp corners or cutting edges at 2 1, 25, 26 and 27 at the junction of the faces 22 and 23 with the faces 20 and 21. A pair of transverse or forward and rear end faces 28 and 29 are also provided on the blade, which are flat and which extend perpendicular to both the faces 20 and 21, and the faces 22 and 23, providing the elongated transversely extending cutting edges 30, 31, 32 and 33 on the blade at the junction of said faces 20 and 21 with the faces 22 and 23, and the short cutting edges 34, 35, 36, and 37 at the junction of the narrow faces 28 and 29 with the faces 22 and 23. Thus twelve cutting edges are provided on the tool, and it will be obvious that the blade can be inverted in order to utilize the edge 30 instead of the edge 31, and can be reversed end for end to utilize the edges 32 and 33 instead of the edges 30 and 31.

In the, use of the blade, it is used on a flat surface, such as the face 38 of a piece of siding or any other'board by pushing the tool forwardly away from the user against the surface to be cleaned so that the edge 31 bears against such surface and plows along on the same to remove any paint or other matter on the surface of the board,the tool being held at a slightly oblique angle to the surface to be cleaned, as will be evident from the tool being pushed toward such surface as' well as against the main surface 38 that is being cleaned, whereupon the edges 24 and 35 will come into play to plow into such surface and remove the paint or other material on the surface of the wood therefrom, thus cleaning both the surfaces 38 and 39 at the same time. The tool is preferably made with a thick heavy blade and a relatively heavy blade holder so that the weight thereof can be utilized to perform the planing or plowing action, making it unnecessary for the user to bear down on the surface to any extent, merely pushing forwardly andbearing down on the surface at the same time to bring the tool into action. As a very wide swath can be smoothed at one time withthe tool, and as it is not necessary to go over the surface more than once, ordinarily, very rapid progress can be made in cleaning off a painted or otherwise coated surface to prepare the same for painting purposes. Furthermore, the blade does not have to be sharpened very frequently because it can be put into four different cutting positions, only one forward edge being utilized at a time.

What I claim is:

1. In a smoothing tool, a handle, a blade holder projecting forwardly from said handle and having pairs of jaws projecting forwardly from said holder, said jaws being substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of said handle and provid ing an opening between each pair of jaws at the free ends thereof, said jaws defining a'pair of substantially rectangular sockets having parallel rear walls and parallel top and bottom walls, said top and bottom walls being substantially parallel to the axis of said handle, and a thick, flat rectangular blade mounted in said sockets formed by said jaws and extending transversely ofsaid handle and projecting forwardly of said jaws substantially 'in' a straight line with said handle so that the forward edge thereof is substantially aligned with said handle so as to be pushed into engagement with the surface to be smoothed, said blade having flat wide top and bottom faces, and fiat narrow end and side faces, said top and bottom faces being perpendicular to said side faces and said end faces being perpendicular to both said side faces and said top and bottom faces, whereby a plurality of pairs of straight parallel cutting edges are provided on said blade, the pairs of adjoining cutting edges extendingperpendicular to each other, and means for clamping said blade between said jaws, said blade engaging with said jaws with either end face forward or with either fiat wide face upward, the 'jawforming the bottom wall of a socket being shorter than the jaw forming the top wall of said socket.

2. In a paint removing tool, a handle, blade holding means projecting forwardly endwise from said handle and comprisinga pair of spaced, opposite, fixed, rigid jawsand a connecting portion extending between said jaws, said jaws and said connecting portion forming a socket open having a fiat rear Wall perpendicular to said in-' ner faces, a thick, fiat, rectangular, elongated, rigid, plate-like blade of uniform thickness throughout having fiat wide top and bottom faces, fiat narrow side faces perpendicular to said top and bottom faces to provide parallel cutting edges at the meeting corners of said blade and top and bottom faces, and a pair of flat, narrow end faces extending perpendicularly to said side faces and said top and bottomfaces to provide parallel cutting edges at the meeting corners of said top and bottom faces and said end faces perpendicular to said first mentioned cutting edges, and to provide parallel cutting edges perpendicular to all said other cutting edges at the meeting corners of said side and end faces, said blade being invertible and reversible and any one of said flat narrow faces being adapted to engage the flat rear wall of said socket, and clamping means on one of said jaws adapted to engage either of said flat wide faces of said blade to clamp the other flat wide face of said blade against the flat inner face of the other jaw, said blade holding means being of less width and length than said blade and said blade being adjustable transversely of said holding means to vary the lateral projection of said blade.

3. In a smoothing tool, a handle, blade holding means projecting forwardly endwise from said handle and comprising a pair of jaws projecting forwardly from said holder, said jaws being substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of said handle and providing an opening between the same at the free ends thereof, said jaws defining a substantially rectangular socket having parallel top and bottom walls and a rear wall substantially perpendicular thereto, said top and bottom walls being substantially parallel to the axis of said handle and a thick flat rectangular blade mounted in the socket formed by said jaws and extending transversely of said handle and projecting forwardly of said jaws substantially in a straight line with said handle so that the forward edge thereof is substantially aligned with said handle so as to be pushed into engagement with the surface to be smoothed, said blade having fiat wide top and bottom faces, and flat narrow end and side faces, said top and bottom faces being perpendicular to said side faces and said end faces being perpendicular to both said side faces and said top and bottom faces, whereby a plurality of pairs of straight parallel cutting edges are provided on said blade, the pairs of adjoining cutting edges extending perpendicular to each other, and means for clamping said blade between said jaws, said blade engaging with said jaws with either end face forward or with either flat wide face upward, the jaw forming the bottom wall of said socket being shorter than the jaw forming the top wall thereof.

WILLIAM F. BURDICK. 

